Question:
About an hour after I sent out a resume I sweated over for days, I noticed a typo. I went from thinking I had a solid chance to land one of twelve jobs to realizing I’d destroyed any chance I had with these employers.
My friends tell me not to sweat it, saying that smart employers will overlook a typo given my otherwise strong resume. They also remind me that jobs come along all the time. Are they right? If not, how do I fix this?
Answer:
Job opportunities do come along all the time, but terrific jobs don’t. When you really want a job, you need to do whatever you can to land it. A prominent typo on a resume cam act as a wrecking ball, toppling an applicant’s job chances. While some employers overlook or not even see a typo or grammatical error, many employers will hit delete on a resume that proves an applicant didn’t bother to proof his work.
You can fix this by quickly sending a follow-up email with the corrected resume. If you do this, you demonstrate that you recognized the typo and can own up to your mistakes. The alternative – cross your fingers and hope one or more of those twelve employers won’t see or will look past your typo.
© 2020, Lynne Curry
Lynne Curry is the author of “Beating the Workplace Bully” (AMACOM, 2016) and “Solutions” (both books are rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com). Send your questions to her at lynnewriter10@gmail.com or follow her on twitter @lynnecurry10.
Lynne-Your comments are sensible, do-able, and to the point, as always. I sent out a resume and interview thank you note with a typo on the last line of the thank you. I didn’t send out a corrected letter, as I recall, and I didn’t get the job.